Johnson brings back ‘greener’ vibe to Waikiki Shell concerts

When Jack Johnson speaks about “greening” the concerts on his current tour, his voice brightens, the way it does when he sings about his wife, Kim Johnson. His newest tribute to her,“Love Song #16,” appears on his latest album, “All The Light Above It Too,” recorded at Johnson’s Mango Tree Studio in Hawaii and set for release Sept. 8 through his Brushfire Records label.

Married 22 years with three children, the North Shore couple’s love for ohana, community and nature remains the other major theme informing his performances and songs.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser caught up with Johnson, 42, by phone Wednesday before he played at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. He talked about his upcoming concerts Friday and Saturday at the Waikiki Shell.

“I’m really looking forward to the Hawaii shows, just the energy, it’s so much fun to be home,” he said.

QUESTION: You’ve been working to make your concerts greener for more than a decade. How’s it going, and how can concertgoers participate at the Waikiki Shell?

ANSWER: It’s been a nice conversation, a building process over the years. We started out trying to lessen the negative impact of the tour, using biodiesel in trucks and buses, recycling. All those things are important, but lately what we’ve really been trying to do is eliminate single-use plastics as much as we can.

People are bringing their own reusable water bottles to shows, and there are lots of free refills. We sell stainless-steel pint cups at the shows, too. I’ve seen progress, a lot less plastic left after people leave.

To incentivize people to bike, they get free valet bike parking, which should work really well at the Shell.

Q: Speaking of single-use plastics, your stunning new album cover shows you surrounded by a mosaic of plastic that was collected from beach cleanups. Also this year you sailed through the North Atlantic Gyre, a hub of plastic waste, and made a film called “The Smog of the Sea.”

A: “The Smog of the Sea” was really eye-opening for me. A lot of the nonprofit groups who partner with us are showing the film.

Q: How did you choose your new album title?

A: It’s a reference to the first song, which goes, “All the light under the sun and all the light above it too, it doesn’t shine just for you.” I was trying to remind us of where we are in the universe or the multiverse: The sun shines in all directions; we have to take care of this place, it’s not just for us.

Q: Are you playing songs from your new album on this tour?

A: We’ve been playing one of the new songs, “My Mind Is for Sale,” and then a second song, “Big Sur,” some nights. We will be touring some more once the album’s out, in the Southern states and South America.

Q: How about in Hawaii?

A: No, but I always end up doing little concerts here and there, at school cafeterias. The kids are the funnest people to play for; they’ve got no inhibition.

Q: In daily life, do you get treated like a celebrity much?

A: I don’t get noticed very much, to be honest. I’d have to be looking for something to complain about if I complained about that.

Q: Is “My Mind Is for Sale,” on the new album, about President Trump? (See the music video at jackjohnsonmusic.com.)

A: Some of it, but it’s also about how the time feels, with so many stories, gossip sometimes, “fake news.” It’s my opinion in the chorus: “I don’t care for your paranoid, us-against-them walls/I don’t care for your careless, me-first, gimme-gimme appetite at all.”

Trump has put out some of these ideas, a literal wall, but it’s also any kind of division — race, ethnicity — a lot of divisive talk. Pulling out of the Paris agreement on climate change really depressed me, but I was really proud when (Hawaii) Gov. (David) Ige said that as a state we’ll be following the Paris accords.

Q: The lyric video reminds me of Scrabble.

A: (laughs) Those are my kids’ blocks. I wrote words all over ’em.

Q: Can you describe some of the other new songs?

A: “Big Sur” is about driving away from all the things on your mind, in society. “Love Song #16”— I just always write simple love ditties. … I counted up all the ones I wrote before.

Q: What do you like to do with your kids?

A: When we’re home we tend to go to the ocean a lot, surfing, snorkeling. We like to hike. On the tour it’s fun to get out of our element, wake up some days in the middle of a city, totally out of our normal thing, check out city life. Today we played tennis for the first time in a while.

Q: Even if your Waikiki Shell concerts are sold out, I know from past Kokua Festivals that we can enjoy them from outside the fence, the sound is so clean.

A: I’d have to give credit to my friend Michael Pollock, my sound guy ever since I was playing little clubs. I love playing the Shell because of all the different shows I saw there growing up. … I’ve seen Ziggy Marley when he was on his first album cycle. I must have been in, like, ninth grade.

And it’s so much like “Where’s Waldo,” looking out from the stage at all these heads in a sea of people. I see friends or that guy or that girl I recognize from the surf. You have to focus to remember your words.”